Uravity Falls
by BHS
Summary: Still struggling with her feelings for Deku, Ochako Uraraka seeks advice from the most unlikely source ever. Oh yeah, this will go well. My first BNHA fic! Just a bit of light-hearted fluff starring my precious cinammon roll, because I felt like it.
1. Chapter 1: Sauntering Vaguely Downwards

**URAVITY FALLS**

By BHS

 _For Healy, who got me on board._

[Author's Note: This story takes place after Episode 61 of the anime, or roughly Chapter 121 of the manga. Spoilers for plot developments up to this point.]

 **Chapter 1: Sauntering Vaguely Downwards**

 _"There's someone you like, right~?"_

That question had been echoing in Ochako Uraraka's mind for days on end.

 _"There's someone you like, right~?"_

True, the girl who asked it was disturbed… okay, crazy… okay, _psychotic._ Just the thought of that girl made Ochako sick. Toga giggled and squealed and declared herself "friends" with poor Tsuyu and babbled about intimate, _private_ things, all while trying to murder her and Tsuyu both.

Psychotic she was… but she wasn't wrong.

 _"There's someone you like, right~?"_

The question came to mind yet again as Class 1-A filed out the double doors of Heights Alliance on their way to the new semester's opening ceremony. Or rather, Class 1-A minus two… Deku and Bakugou were staying behind, under house arrest for the fight they had the night before. Ochako cast a long look over her shoulder back at them as the group made their way across the courtyard. Both boys were vacuuming the floors at the moment, Deku doing so quietly and without fuss, and Bakugou… not. He hadn't blown anything up yet, so that was progress, she supposed.

Deku was in bandages, _again_. Thankfully not in critical condition like the aftermath of the training camp, but no matter how many times she saw him bruised, broken, and beat up—and that had happened so many times that she had lost count—she never, ever got used to it.

 _"I love people who are beat up and smell like blood…!"_

Gah. Ochako stopped in mid-step and shook herself, her stomach turning. Her skin wanted to crawl off and hide in a corner somewhere, as it did every time she thought about that girl. Ochako thought of herself as an empathetic person, able to understand most people's feelings pretty well… but there was no understanding Toga, a girl so divorced from normal human feelings and behavior that she thought blood and pain and suffering were attractive. More than that, they made her _excited_. Disgusting. Sick, depraved, and disgusting.

Better not to think about Toga. She wasn't the problem, anyway.

The problem, if one could call it that, was Deku. During the Provisional License Exam, when saw that girl from Shiketsu all over him… something in her burned hotter than Todoroki's flames, a vehement, bitter anger that was totally unlike her. She decided back then that she couldn't allow Deku to distract her, much as she cared about him… much as she…

Much as she…

Blood rushed to Ochako's cheeks. It was a good thing she was lagging behind the rest of her classmates; she had a feeling that she was glowing like a neon sign.

Much as she _liked_ him.

She _liked_ Deku.

There, that was it. She thought it, and sky didn't fall, the ground didn't open up to swallow her whole… though the thought was tempting. Ochako buried her burning face in her hands. The soles of her shoes left the ground by a few centimeters.

"Ochako-chan?" Now Tsuyu was hanging back. She tilted her head to one side and blinked her wide, froggy eyes. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'll be fine, Tsuyu-chan, just fine. I was just… thinking about something."

"You're floating a little."

Observant as ever, that one. _"Release,"_ said Ochako, prying her hands away and pressing the pads of her fingers together. Her personal gravity reasserted itself, and her soles fell back to the pavement with a soft _click._

 _"There's someone you like, right~?"_

Yes, the phantom Toga was right. She liked Deku.

Much as she tried to suppress those feelings and focus on her duties as a student and a hero-in-training, they always floated back up… just like those wooden blocks back in elementary school, back when she was first getting the hang of her Quirk. How she remembered those blocks, worn and scratched but still chunky and colorful, and how much fun it was to make them fly just by touching them… but then, the other boys and girls wanted to play with them too. Ochako would grab the floating blocks out of the air with her chubby little toddler fingers and press them down into the waiting palms of the other kids… and they would always, always float right back up as soon as she let go. More than one kid cried when that happened… and she would cry, too, because _they_ were crying and she hated seeing anyone upset.

Much like she hated seeing Deku hurt.

Much like she hated seeing Deku being pawed at by that Shiketsu girl.

It was a vicious circle: sooner or later, all thoughts led back to Deku. Her feelings would float back up again, like those wooden blocks long ago.

Something had to be done. She _liked_ Deku, and something had to be done about it… but this was uncharted territory for her, a scary new frontier riddled with traps and pitfalls. Much too scary to face alone. She needed help. She needed someone to talk to, someone who could help her deal with all of this. For her own sake, for Deku's sake, and for the sake of their careers, something had to be done.

Who to talk to, though? Tsuyu? Tsuyu was her best friend at U.A., Tsuyu would understand… but much as she adored her, Tsuyu didn't exactly seem like the type to give relationship advice. The thought of having to confess her feelings while Tsuyu stared at her, blinking those big froggy eyes, made her feel _weird_. Weird, and guilty, for there was no logical reason to feel that way.

Momo? Momo was from a super-rich, high-class family. Surely she had some dating experience, right? However, though Momo was unfailingly nice to all her classmates, there was a distance between them that Ochako wasn't comfortable with. Maybe it was _because_ she was from a super-rich, high-class family… they wouldn't have any point of common reference.

That left Kyoka, Toru, and Mina as the only other girls in Class 1-A. Kyoka was quiet, moody, and easily embarrassed, so that was out. Toru and Mina both had the opposite problem… if she went to them with her secrets, they would remain secrets for approximately thirty seconds before their delighted squealing spilled the beans to the rest of the dorm. How an invisible girl could be so catastrophically bad at keeping secrets was a question for the ages, but Toru was out. Mina was only a little better at it.

So who was left?

She needed someone who knew Deku and knew him well. Someone who could at least steer her in the right direction. Someone—

 _Oh no._

Just like that, she had her answer. It was a _terrifying_ answer; the prospect was probably more dangerous that facing down a whole building full of Rank-A villains, but it was an answer. There was really only one person she could talk to… God help her.

* * *

 **Later That Day**

 _"You have a crush on WHO?!"_ Katsuki Bakugou roared in her face, his sharp crimson eyes wild with disbelief.

Once again, Ochako hid her face in her hands… fists, actually. Floating again would only make this more awkward. If that was even possible. "Bakugou-kun, if you could _please_ keep it down a little?"

"Are you fucking _shitting_ me?! _HIM?!_ " Bakugou stormed around the courtyard to the accompaniment of pops and crackles from his fingertips. Thank God the others were still at the ceremony… the only one still at the dorm was Deku, and he was occupied cleaning the bathrooms. The _soundproofed_ bathrooms… part of the dorms' numerous anti-Mineta countermeasures. Even so, she was surprised that all of Musutafu couldn't hear Bakugou carrying on.

"Look, Bakugou-kun, m-maybe this was a bad idea," she said, her heart sinking as she turned to leave. "I'll… I'll just go. Pretend this never happened."

 _"DON'T YOU FUCKING MOVE."_

"Eep." Ochako froze in place.

Heavy footsteps stomped up behind her. That pungent burnt sugar smell that always followed Bakugou like a cloud wafted over her shoulder and into her nostrils. She tried desperately not to sneeze… knowing Bakugou, he would think she was mocking him and blow her up. Maybe he would anyway.

"Listen to me, dammit." A finger jabbed her in the back, hard. His voice was even harsher and gravelly-er than normal. "If you tell anyone, _anyone_ that I'm helping set you up with that goddamn shitty nerd… _I'll kill you._ I'll kill the _shit_ out of you."

Ochako wasn't sure she heard correctly. "Buh," she said, which was more articulate than she thought she could manage. "B-Bakugou-kun…?"

" _Don't get the wrong idea, dammit!"_ Hot breath blasted the back of her neck. "I ain't doing this for Deku. You did good at the Sports Festival, and I owe you for that… and both of you are too goddamn stupid to hook yourselves up. _That's all_. If you think for one second that I'm going soft—"

"... you'll kill me?"

"Goddamn right. Tomorrow, after class. On the roof. If you're late, I'll find you. And _then_ I'll kill you _._ "

 **END OF CHAPTER 1**

[Author's Note Addendum: As always, comments are an author's food pellets, so leave plenty, and consider donating via my P*treon or P*yP*l if you like my stuff and want to help me make more.]


	2. Chapter 2: Misfire Number One

**Chapter 2: Misfire Number One**

 **The Next Day**

"... so, _sensei_ , I know you're still angry with him about the fight, but what do you think? Is it okay?"

"GRR... Bakugou… you want to… ARGH…"

"Just meet with him, that's right."

"Up… _RRRRRGH…_ up on… RRRAARGH..."

"... The roof?"

 _"ROOF!"_ shouted Ryo Inui, also known as Hound Dog, U.A.'s guidance counselor. Froth flew from the edges of his muzzle. _"ROOF ROOF ROOF ROOF ROOF ROOF…"_

"I'll, uh…" Ochako swallowed and took a few steps backward. "I'll just come back another time."

"BARK," Inui-sensei added. And furthermore, expanding on that statement: "BARK! GRR RARRGH BARK BARK BOW WOW WOW WOW BARK!" He continued much in that manner even as he tore apart his desk drawer, eventually producing a sheet of paper and a well-chewed pencil. Frantically he waved at Ochako to wait a moment.

"Inui-sensei? Is there something else?"

"SNARL. BARK BARK—BOW WOW WOW—WOOF WOOF, WOOF." As he spoke, he scribbled something—not without considerable difficulty—then pushed it in Ochako's direction. _"BARK."_

"For me?" Ochako took it. Deciphering the scrawl across the page took a moment, but it said:

 _"aIZAwa-_

 _perMIsioNN graaaantED for_ _aruuuu_ _uRU u_ _urararara_ **OCHAKO** _to gO DOrm rooFFFTop w/ baKUGOu durng howse ARRest!_

 _\- iNui"_

At least, she was reasonably sure that was what it said. Ochako's face lit up like the sun. "Th-thank you, Inui-sensei! Thank you! I'll be sure Bakugou-kun doesn't get into any more trouble, I promise!"

 _"GRR,"_ said Inui-sensei. He sounded doubtful… somehow.

"Thanks again, _sensei!_ Excuse me!" Ochako bowed and hurried out of the office, clutching the permission slip to her test. Now to hope that Aizawa-sensei was just as agreeable…

* * *

 **Later That Day**

 _"Goddammit, I_ told _you not to be late!_ "

Ochako cringed as she threw open the door to the dorm's rooftop. She was slightly out of breath. "Sorry, sorry! I got caught up helping the girls deal with Mineta-kun..."

Bakugou raised an eyebrow.

"He, uh…" Ochako fidgeted under his gaze. "He tried to get away with another pair of Yao-momo's underwear from the laundry. Yao-momo and Jiro-chan stuffed him in a trash can and I levitated it into a tree. A-anyway, s-sorry again. Sorry," she stammered, bowing a few more times for good measure.  
 _"Knock it off!"_ A few pops came from Bakugou's fist as he clenched it. "If I want your goddamn apologies, I'll ask for 'em!"

"Sorr—er, okay!" As she rose back up, she presented the cellophane-wrapped package to him… rather more roughly than she intended, so it came out as more of a shove. Her lip trembled as she waited for his reaction…

"What," said Bakugou, stomping over for a closer look, "... the hell… are these?"

"C-cupcakes… from the convenience store on Orudo Street..." Ochako broke out in a sweat. It was possible—likely, even—that she had made a grave miscalculation here. Boys, as a rule, disliked being seen eating sweets… Rikido Sato being a logical exception, since his Quirk depended on it. To a boy who was obsessed with appearing tough and manly at all times—like Bakugou, for example—being given cupcakes was probably a grave insult to his masculinity. Maybe if she was lucky, they'd find her body sooner rather than later, before it started to smell. "I, uh," she stammered, "I j-just thought I should th-thank you for—"

The package vanished from her hands in a rush of air. "These better not have shredded coconut on 'em. I hate that shit," said Bakugou over the sound of cellophane being torn to shreds.

"Uh…" Ochako was fairly certain that her jaw was hanging open to somewhere around her knees. She closed it in a hurry.

* * *

They ate. Bakugou attacked the cupcakes as if he had a personal vengeance against them, stuffing them whole into his mouth in between tearing off strips of fried pork cutlet with his teeth. "So. Deku," he said while he gnawed on a piece.

Ochako nodded as she inhaled a few more noodles from her instant ramen.

"How long?"

That was a good question, really. Ochako set her chopsticks down and pondered. "I, uh… I guess it started after the entrance exams…"

"Of fucking course," Bakugou growled. "The robot. Damn Deku, I shoulda known..."

"Look, Bakugou-kun if you'd rather not do this—"

"Shut up." Bakugou's finger shot out at her like a missile and hovered a few millimeters from the tip of her nose. "If I say I'm gonna do something, I damn well do it. I can't leave you two morons alone now that I know, Deku's shit at talking to girls."

"And I suppose you're better at it?" The sentence popped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Her stomach dropped like a block of concrete, and she clapped her hands over her mouth in horror. Forget finding her body, Ochako thought, they'd be lucky to find any pieces of her bigger than a grain of rice.

Silence between them. The wind blew. Somewhere in the distance, a dog howled.

Bakugou surprised her for the second time that night: he roared with laughter, spraying the rooftop with cupcake crumbs and morsels of pork cutlet.

Slowly, slowly, Ochako's insides unwound themselves. Maybe, just maybe, she would survive this after all.

"That's good!" said Bakugou once he finally regained control of himself, grinning like the devil. "That's _damned_ good! Didn't think ya had it in ya, Uraraka! You got _balls!_ For a girl, I mean."

Apparently, that was a compliment. "Uh, thanks?" she said, flushing hot.

"Most girls are fucking annoying." Bakugou went back to his cutlets, having exhausted the supply of cupcakes. "Following me around, giggling behind my back like they think I can't hear 'em. Most of 'em don't even have the balls to even talk to me, and the ones that do…" He put on a screeching falsetto. " _'Yes, Bakugou-kun!' 'Of course, Bakugou-kun!' 'Anything you say, Bakugou-kun!'_ Makes me wanna puke."

"... But… but I thought you _loved_ that kind of attention!"

Bakugou turned his head and spit in disgust. "That kind ain't real. They're not into _me_ , they just want to kiss my ass to try to get into my pants. They think if they can get me alone, I'll go all _soft_ and _sensitive_ and share my fucking _feelings_ like I'm the kind of pansy-ass jack-off they write their fucking doujinshi about."

Over those last few sentences, Ochako's cheeks darkened from rose to crimson to beet. "D-doujinshi?"

Bakugou scowled and crushed the paper wrapper from his most recent cutlet in the palm of his hand. It went up in flames. "Ever since the sports festival. My old lady thinks it's hilarious to send 'em to me in the mail. They ain't worth burning or blowing up, so I just shove 'em under Mineta's door."

"Ah." That explained the howls of terror that periodically filtered up from the dorms' second floor.

"But _you're_ different." There was the pointing finger again; she nearly went cross-eyed from looking at it. "You're not like them, you proved that. You've got balls—"

"I really don't—"

"You know what I mean. If Deku didn't notice you after we fought at the sports festival…" Bakugou snorted. "He's a bigger idiot than I thought. If you're ever gonna get through to him, you need to talk his language. Got me?"

"Talk his language. Right." Ochako nodded as if her head were on a spring. "What's that mean?"

"It means _All Might_ ," said Bakugou, all agrin. He looked like a blonde, spiky-haired shark about to move in for the kill. "You know what a nerd he is about pro heroes, _especially_ All Might. You want in with him? Look for an opening, then impress the hell out of him with what you know about All Might. Surprise him, dammit! Catch him off guard and ride him hard 'til he gives up!"

Eep. "I really wish you'd phrase that a different way…"

"That's what you gotta do!" He stood, sparks flying from his fingertips as he roared to the heavens. "Go all out! _NO MERCY!_ "

Ochako wondered if she had sustained a head injury, for Bakugou was making a frightening amount of sense…

* * *

 **The Next Next Day**

"Um, Deku-kun?"

There he was, all green curls and freckles, sweet and thoughtful and nerdy and determined… and still totally oblivious. But today would change that. Hopefully. "Oh, Uraraka-san! How did it go today?" Deku said as he looked up from the couch, where he had had his nose buried in his notebook. He had been working hard, she could tell by his scent, the lingering, sickly-sweet aroma of pine freshener mixed with the more musky odor of sweat. She could tell by the shine on his skin and the blood in his cheeks...

They were in the freshly-cleaned Heights Alliance common room, scoured top to bottom by Deku and Bakugou as part of their punishment. And they were alone… Bakugou was making sure of that, providing a much-needed distraction to the rest of the class out on the lawn. He and Kirishima were doing… something involving a couple dozen cans of barley tea, something very noisy that rose cheers from all of their classmates roughly every thirty seconds. Well, _almost_ all of their classmates. Todoroki watched in stoic silence, uncaring and unimpressed, and dimly she could hear Iida hollering in vain over the frequent explosions about "disturbing the peace", "littering laws", and, for some reason, "proper calisthenics".

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. This was her moment. No reason to be nervous. "I-it was fine. Class was nothing special."

"I can't wait to get back and make up for what I missed!" Deku's gaze went somewhere far away as he clenched his fists. "I'm sure Aizawa-sensei won't hold back just because of my house arrest. He's going to work me harder than ever…"

"D-Deku-kun," Ochako stammered. Her face was hot… _really_ hot. Better make this quick, before Deku got lost in thought and started that muttering business again. "I… I got these from the convenience store down the street! Take a look!" And with that, she thrust the cheap foil package at him, forcing her lips into a smile.

"Are these…" Deku's eyes widened. He took the package with great reverence, as if receiving a holy artifact. "Are these official All Might Smash Crackers? The ones with trading cards?"

Fireworks went off in Ochako's head, but somehow, she kept her cool on the outside. "Uh-huh!" she nodded. "I… I know they're not much, but I know how you look up to All Might, s-so I th-thought m-m-maybe…"

"Oh, wow! Thank you, Uraraka-san!" Deku shone with the smile she adored so much. "I'll go put these in my room with all the others!"

And just like that, the fireworks fizzled out, and cold reality came crashing back down on her. "All… all the others…?"

Deku was already rising from the couch, his eyes and attention on the package of cards, a million miles away from her. "I've been collecting them ever since I was little, I've got almost five hundred packages of these, all unopened and in mint condition! I'm hoping that I'll be a pro hero by the time I collect a thousand."

Through a supreme effort, Ochako forced herself to remain on her feet. "I'm… I'm sure that you'll make it, Deku-kun, but I thought… I thought we could—"

Deku wasn't listening. He was already on the way to the stairs. "I'm gonna go seal these up right away so they won't spoil! Thanks again, Uraraka-san!" There he went.

Ochako sagged and sank into the couch cushions, her burning face in her hands.

Several seconds of eternity later, the remaining eighteen members of Class 1-A came bustling in through the front doors, many grumbling about "ruining a perfectly good show". Iida followed, his arms a blur of stiff, robotic motion: "—had best hope that Aizawa-sensei doesn't find out that you were behaving in such a disgraceful manner, Kirishima and Bakugou! You put gallons of perfectly good tea to waste, and you both know perfectly well that those dumbells are on the confiscated items list! Don't make that face at me, Kirishima! Uraraka-kun?" Iida noticed her before she could slip away. He bolted to her side. At least there was a nice breeze coming from his arm movements. "Your face is very red! Are you unwell? Should I take you to the nurse?"

"No, no, Iida-kun, I'm fine," she lied, forcing another smile. "I'm fine, I just need to lie down for a while. Thank you."

 **END OF CHAPTER 2**

[ _Author's Note: Remember, comments are an author's food pellets! Share the love, and consider helping me make more stuff by donating to pay*pal-dot-me-slash-bhsdesk or to my P atreon at pat*reon-dot-com-slash-tasakeru. For the latter, you now can get your name into my YouTube videos for as little as a $2 pledge [/plugplugplug]_ ]


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